Hillel Campus Climate Initiative
This critical program fuels university and college administrators to build awareness, allyship, and action around antisemitism, as part of a broader effort to address hate and bias on campus.

The Campus Climate Initiative (CCI) collaborates with higher education administrators to ensure a positive campus climate in which Jewish students feel comfortable expressing their identity and values, free of antisemitism, harassment, or marginalization. We recognize that key administrative leaders play an essential role in effecting broad-based educational and policy change on campus, and that partnerships between campuses and Hillels can catalyze positive changes that benefit Jewish students and all students. The CCI model involves partnership between the college or university administration, local Hillel, and the CCI team. To date, 40 colleges and universities in the United States have participated in the Campus Climate Initiative, including Cohort 3, which was announced in September 2022.
The Campus Climate Initiative (CCI) provides college and university administrators with opportunities to seriously explore these topics — and create meaningful action plans — alongside a community of peers from institutions around North America. This collaborative, educational, and practical experience offers administrators on participating campuses, in partnership with their local Hillel professionals, to engage together with us in:
- Gathering, assessing, and utilizing data to better understand the current climate for Jewish students in their campus community and to inform strategic next steps
- Training and empowering university administration and staff to better understand the needs of Jewish students, the diversity of the Jewish community, and the challenges of campus antisemitism
- Creating and adopting best practice policies, procedures, and programs to address antisemitism and foster a positive campus climate for Jewish students and all students
Antisemitic incidents on college and university campuses represent a threat to our values and our ability to create communities that respect the fundamental dignity and human rights of all members. Addressing them challenges us to take a hard look at difficult questions affecting our campus climates and our society more broadly.
Lee C. Bollinger, President of Columbia University
As part of the cohort experience, participating campuses will:
- Build a coalition to combat antisemitism
- Participate in a professional community of practice that centers peer-to-peer learning with colleagues who share a commitment to inclusive campus communities for all students
- Engage in campus-specific work to implement data-informed action steps to foster a positive, inclusive, and welcoming campus climate for Jewish students and all students.
- Receive ongoing support from Hillel International professionals to sustain an inclusive campus culture for all students
The workshops, trainings, resources and support have been invaluable to us as an institution. We are particularly appreciative of the cohort model as we get to learn from, and share with, our peers.
Tiffenia D. Archie, Ph.D. Associate Vice President & Chief Inclusion Officer, Temple University
43% of Jewish students in the U.S. report having experienced or witnessed antisemitism on their campus
Antisemitic incidents on U.S. campuses have tripled over the past five years. Hillel-ADL survey
CCI Cohorts
Over fifty colleges and universities have participated in the Campus Climate Initiative.
- California State University, Chico
- California State University, Long Beach
- College of William and Mary
- Oakland University (Michigan)
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- University of California, Irvine
- University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
- University of California, Santa Cruz
- University of Maryland, College Park
- University of Texas, San Antonio
- Baruch College, CUNY
- Brooklyn College, CUNY
- University of Florida
- Butler University
- Baruch College
- Brooklyn College
- College of Staten Island
- Goucher College
- Hunter College
- John Carroll University
- John Jay College of Criminal Justice
- Lehigh University
- Queens College
- San Francisco State University
- The City College of New York
- University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- University of Iowa
- University of Wisconsin-Madison
- Virginia Tech
- Yale University
- Binghamton University
- Case Western Reserve University
- Elon University
- Florida Atlantic University
- Goucher College
- Ithaca College
- Kennesaw State University
- New York University
- Northwestern University
- Rutgers University
- San Diego State University
- San Jose State University
- Stony Brook University
- Temple University
- Tufts University
- University of Connecticut
- University of Wisconsin-Madison
- University of Wisconsin System
- Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech)